New MS alligator records set this weekend

Mississippi alligator hunters set multiple new records during the first weekend of alligator season.

A hunting party from Madison held the weight record for an alligator taken in Mississippi for about an hour.

Beth Trammell took the 13' 5.5", 723.5-pound alligator in the early morning hours Sunday in Issaquenna County in the Yazoo Diversion Canal north of Redwood. It broke the previous record of 697.5 pounds.

The new state record only lasted for about an hour though.

Mississippi Alligator program coordinator Ricky Flynt says one hour after he certified Trammell's record alligator, he certified another record-breaking gator.

Dustin Bockman, a UPS driver from Vicksburg, took the 727-pound alligator in the Mississippi River near the Big Black River in Claiborne County. It was 13' 4.5" long.

"He broke all the lines we could put in him. Finally put a snare on him and got him up high enough and put a shot on him. All in all probably took us four and a half hours to catch him from the first time we saw him," Bockman said Monday.

Bockman's alligator is now the current weight record for an alligator taken in alligator hunting season by a Mississippi hunter, according to Flynt.

The current length record is 13' 6.5". That alligator was taken on the Pascagoula River in 2008.

Another alligator record was broken over the weekend.

Brandon Maskew of Ellisville set a new record for a female alligator. Maskew took the 295.3 pound alligator Friday night in the Pascagoula River. The alligator was 10' long and is now the current length and weight record.